Arriving Chiang Mai, Saturday, June 4

Sukhothai Historical Park is on the way to Chiang Mai, sort of, and it's our much-anticipated destination when we leave the Phet Hotel this morning.  It's a massive historical area with ruins of Buddhist temples spread over many kilometers.

Jim and Keith rent our bikes while I change my clothes for a sweaty ride in the heat.  Here we buy our tickets for entrance to the historical park.  We ride to the different temple areas, park the bikes, and walk around.

Scene from our bike ride to the northwest historical section, about 4 km from the main historical site.

After getting off trail once and asking directions, we find the hilltop Buddha.  This is off the beaten track but we do see a few people while we're riding around.

We climbed the steps to the hilltop Buddha.

Stunning.  Great view of the valley from this temple, too.

We're back in the main ruins, but have no idea where we are.

We get lost after visiting the north-western site and the northern site, outside the walled area you see on the map.  We find our route and pedal around some more and finally find the car, return the bikes, hit the toilets for 3-baht each including toilet paper, and head out to Chiang Mai, 4.5 hours away.

We're set for three nights at the River View Hotel in Chiang Mai.  Jim and I have a room with a river view, as does Keith.  

While we eat dinner (yes, I have some wine) lightning and thunder and downpour begin.  We're eating under the covered patio, and when the rain begins to drip onto my food the waitress explains that they're closing for a few days next week to make the repairs to the roof.  They replace my dinner.

Still downpour.  At the restaurant, we climb in the back of a truck, called a 'song thaew' (pronounced 'ta-ew') and sit on the platform seat to ride part way back to the hotel.  I'm not too wet at this point.   But wait!  When the song thaew's route ends, we walk, and we get completely drenched from rain and slogging through little rivers running through the streets.  I save my purse from the downpour by putting it into the plastic bag holding my dinner leftovers.  I hold the bag in front of me to be modest, since my blouse is completely soaked.  You'd think we would have remembered to bring the umbrella?  My purse now smells like garlic.  Ummm.